Replacing the fuel pump. Had about 3/4 in the tank and learned ya can't siphon it out. Can you imagine how long it takes to empty 1/2 a tank through the fuel line when the fuel pump barely works? Let me tell ya, a 20 minute job according to the service manual has turned into about an hour because of how slow the fuel flow is

 

Rebuilt the calipers at all four corners. Thanks goes out to Brettus for the diy, simple to do, it just takes a little time.

 

Huh. I thought I read a post where you said you wanted to make sweet, sweet love to HP+ pads?
Maybe you meant something else when you said "F*** those pads!"?

Porterfields are pretty polarizing too. I tried them on a race car years ago on the recommendation of a hot-shoe, and f-ing hated them. They have a precise bedding-in procedure that, if not followed to the letter means steel-wooling the rotors and starting all over. Even when done right, the pedal feel was mushy as stepping on dog poo. No bueno. I gave them away. Maybe they've gotten better.

I'm considering trying Carbotechs, but I hate complicated bedding-in. The bedding procedure for HP+ consists of slap them on, give them the middle finger, and go. No BS, just go! Er... Stop!

On Topic: Today I aligned and corner-balanced courtesy of the generous help of my two FC RX-7 racing friends, Matt and Matt, and with the support of RP Performance.

I'll post results elsewhere, but my 8 weighs less than 2800 lb dry. Unicorn indeed!

 

Yesterday I rotated the tires, and replaced both the transmission and differential fluids with Eneos 75W90. The old fluids didn't look or smell bad at all but there was a bunch of gunk on the drain pads.

Thursday she's going in to the dealer for the airbag and fuel recalls.

 

Dropped it at dealer for compression test. 1 more week on warranty.

 

Passed compression test!

7.9, 8.0, 7.9 @ 293rpm
8.3, 8.5, 8.1 @ 293rpm

Reman has about 7k on it. Looking good. I am happy. 4 more days till warranty expires.

 

^ Talk about cutting it close!

[I thought you were gonna leave us hanging there for a minute on the test results.]

 

I just slap the Porterfield pads on and go, never heard of any special break-in or such. I have the Racing Brake full calipers & 2-pc rotor setup too which is supposedly finicky about some pads. Never had any issues the current choice that I know of. I only use that one Particular compound though. Ran the street pad once on an FD3 20+ years ago and never cared for it.

Test fit a newly fabricated race header the other night along with getting the rear coilover shocks setup with new springs and ready to install. Should get the front shocks done the next visit along with tearing the front suspension down for cleaning & maintenance.

 

Today, I just drove to the airport. However, the day before yesterday I put on my new GReddy exhaust. I like, I like alot. Now I just need my BHR midpipe to come in...

 

raced a honda civic and lost :/. Im ******* kidding that would never happen

 

Huh. Maybe things have changed. I'll add them to my list of pads to try.

On topic: Changed oil, trasmission lube, and differential lube.

Drove it to work yesterday after fixing the ride height, alignment, and corner balancing it last weekend. This thing is just plain fun on the street, even with 13k/8k springs.
I do have a squeak/rub coming from the rear I need to sort out.

 

Dropped my 8 off at the dealer this morning, there were 2 other RX-8's in the parking lot which was cool to see as I hardly see any around town. The dealer performed 3 recalls -- both airbags and the fuel tank fixes. Had the car back in 4 hours, don't notice anything different but it helped my confidence in their service shop to see other RX-8's there.

 

Well, I'm the engine in my RX-8 might need to be replaced. So while I'm working all that out I've been doing A LOT of cosmetic stuff. Since I can't drive her, or do any performance upgrades at the moment, I've gotten to the point of "ridiculosity". Here is a short run down of what I've done.
-Made custom "evil M" badge from the stock Mazda logo.
-Painted all emblems and badges black with white "mist" on the sides.
-I re-painted the engine cover black and did the Mazda logo and the words in white.
-Re-painted fuse box cover black and did a lime green stripe from front to back.
-Re-painted box cover next to the battery cover black, lime green stripe from front to back.
-Re-painted battery cover black, lime green in the indentations.
-Re-painted air filer box black, lime green in the indentations.
-Painted sway bar lime green
-Painted lids (wiper fluid/oil/etc.) black and white letters and symbols.

I'm going to do the entire engine bay, wrap all the wires and hoses etc. My fiance has determined that I've become obsessed.

Does anyone have any ideas on what else I should do, or any suggestions?

 

Had a body shop install a set of lips for my 8.

Hopefully, it's not ricey or anything. I just wanted a bit of that R3 look without getting an R3 bumper. The S2 GT front bumper looks a bit too round, hence why I added these.

With that, I'd say I am done with the exterior/appearance mods. I may consider the OEM spoiler in the future, but that's about as far as I'd go. Don't want my car to look too tacky.

 

I can't stand fake crap, and I like those, so I think you've succeeded in avoiding "ricey". They look good.

On-topic: Slapped street tires back on the car and reinstalled the air pump Wednesday.
Drove it to work Thursday and Friday in hopes of setting the emissions monitors.
Lost a caliper mounting bolt, had to stop by Lowes and get another one, hand-tightened it...
Got all but the O2 and Cat monitors to go ready despite several drive cycles per the manual.
Registration is now suspended until I can get them to set.

 

Swapped out the headlight fluid. Or at least, polished the Yellow out. Replaced a broken rear light with one from a scrapped RX. Traced a rattle to

Still no idea what's causing the brake vibration. It's too intermittent to be a warped disk and the disks are brand new. Might be a binding pin as it gets worse as the brake heats up.

And the weird warm-start issue said hello again. Left it sitting for 45 minutes and it didn't really want to start afterways. 'Hot' starts are generally okay. It *hates* cranking on cold days.

147k on the clock and still ticking. With hammerite hiding the sill-rust and everthing.



Of course, then I promptly backed it through the gate that I'd closed for the first time in 6 years to keep the dog in. Left a nice donk on the bumper.

Kipple breeds Kipple. Especially with regards to cars as they start to age. All it takes is a week or two where you just dont feel up to doing anything and down it starts. And then it takes more and more effort to get on top of it. It's not a car for the depressed.... even if it's a nice place to be when you are.

 

goo... the gate, and after all that work! what did you trace the rattle to?

 

Put a new set of really shiny track brakes on. I'm bringing the BLING to Hallett this week!

 

missing 2 bolts that mount the idler bracket to the motor

does anyone know what bolts these might be?

 

I have the idler bracket off the car (assuming S1). If I remember I'll take a look tonight. I have thread gauges. If I don't remember, drop me a PM tomorrow.

 

DartzIrl,

Even my new 07 RX8 had the brake vibration. I never drove it hard for a year, and then, bedded the brakes in at first track day.

Do the bedding by driving repeated hard braking from 60 mph to 15 about 8 times, and then, drive around slow to cool off.

My brakes never had any more vibration, and I used hard on track. Hard, but not excessive heated up; car still only has 35k miles and I just put new pads all around.

 

Rattle is a loose drop-link. Don't know why it works loose, but it does.

Tried bedding them in again. Doesn't help too much. Got them brutally hot on a trackday, and on a few good road blasts.

 

Thanks! I try to be tasteful when I add stuff like this.

Put on winter tires two days ago. Using Nokian Hak R2 for the winter.

I probably wouldn't drive the car if it snows, but I do need to deal with the rain.

For me, it's just S1 GT OEM wheels for the winter and S2 GT OEM wheels for the summer.

 

They should actually be studs with nuts, not bolts.
Probably a day late and a dollar short, but I just measured them and they are M8-1.25. The exposed portion of the studs is 15 mm long.

 

I got a speedbleader and bled the clutch line. I changed the brake fluid months ago but didn't bleed the clutch. Also changed the oil and filter but I need to get another quart to top it off. I thought I had a full 5 quart jug but I guess I had used it to top off the oil before.